Classical Conversations, so much more than a curriculum based program

I admit it. I am a curriculum addict. Before I ever started homeschooling I started collecting curriculum. I had more books, and programs and hands on kits than a large family would ever need. The problem was that I only had 1 child. One child that had more curriculum for her education by the age of 5 then I would ever go through in all ages. Yet, I kept looking. I found an amazing curriculum consignment store near our house (see notes for link) that was a blessing and a curse. As I would bring in items to consign that I decided not to use, or admitted that the child entering 3rd grade was probably not going to use the awesome shape sorting workbook I had for a 3 yr old I would browse. It was in this browsing that I discovered Classical Conversations. A book on the shelf called my name! The Foundations Guide. This one simple book contained a curriculum that spanned the time of 3 years AND covered all the basic subjects as well as latin, fine arts, and public speaking. This was for k-6th grade!! I had to learn more.

I started researching Classical Conversations and learned that it was the “co-op” my friend was doing with her kids. The amazing “co-op” that she was always talking about where the mommas got support, and had book clubs, and community while the children were taught to think, and engage with history and scripture through the study of science, and math, latin and grammar. This “co-op” that allowed her to stop buying extra curriculum because EVERYTHING she wanted to teach was in this one guide, and the occasional library book. I was blown away!

I was able to visit her “co-op” one day and discovered that it is not a co-op at all. It is a COMMUNITY. Families that come together one day a week to introduce the material the children will learn that week, do science experiments and practice public speaking starting at a young age. It was a program with a mission “to know God and make him known”. All of this and a well thought out system that met kids at the stage they were at developmentally and equipped parents with the tools and resources to support their learning. I was sold!

Then the reality hit me. I was a single mom working 2 jobs and I couldn’t afford to take one day a week off work to attend a community day. I was so disappointed. I began praying that if God wanted us to use this beautiful program I had found he would make a way for it to happen. I waited 5 years for that prayer to be answered. Doors opened in my doTERRA business that allowed me to scale back and eventually retire from my nanny work. I was finally able to enroll in a CC Community for our 5th grade year. We not only got to embrace the beautiful Foundations program and the guide that made homeschooling simple but, we also enrolled in the Essentials program. This program is ALL about Grammar, writing, history and math. We learned to diagram sentences, and understand the english language in a much deeper way.

We also got to experience a real community. A group of children and mommas who would rally beside us when work was hard and homeschooling seemed impossible. A community that embraced our family divorce, only child, and fulltime working mom and all. We were being enriched by the depth and beauty of the curriculm but also inspired by the common thread of how ALL that we learned, and experienced was woven together through Christ. I was able to intertwine education with faith building and character development for my child in a way I had only ever dreamt of.

Classical Conversations grew to be more than just a curriculum, or a community for us. As we entered the “Challenge” years, the apt title of the Jr and Sr high Programs, it also became a tribe of like minded fierce families raising up children to know how to think, defend their beliefs and share the love of God with others in a natural way. Young adults learning to listen respectfully, identify and reason with logic skills what the world is bringing to them and develop opinions and beliefs about where they belong in the world and what they want their legacy to be.

Classical Conversations has been instrumental in equipping my daughter to feel grounded in who she is, to whom she belongs, and to what she wants to dedicate her life to doing. At this time she is well on track to pursue her dream of going to Law School and it is in large part because of the education she is getting through the years we have been with Classical Conversations. What started as an addiction to get more curriculum changed the trajectory of our homeschool experience and I am forever grateful for this program.

For my fellow curriculm junkies, here is the best store ever! Homeschool Potpurri consigns all across the country so check them out here https://hspbooks.com/

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